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Peru’s Constitutional Court Upholds Law Limiting Human Rights Prosecutions to Post-2002 Cases

The ruling preserves a 2002 cutoff, prompting calls for Congress to align the Penal Code with international obligations.

Overview

  • The Constitutional Court rejected unconstitutionality challenges from the Lima Bar Association and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, leaving Law 32107 in force.
  • A four-to-three split fell short of the five votes required to strike down a statute, so the law remains valid under the Court’s interpretation.
  • Law 32107 confines charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes to acts from July 1, 2002, with pre-2002 events governed by the 1991 Penal Code and its prescription rules.
  • Three magistrates issued singular votes invoking international-law imprescriptibility, underscoring a clash between domestic application and ius cogens principles.
  • The Lima Bar Association publicly rejected the decision as risking impunity, and a 2024 Foreign Ministry report to the Inter-American system warned that enabling prescription for such crimes conflicts with Peru’s treaty commitments.